50 Years
by canadawilliamsfromtumblr
Summary: The nations unwittingly subjected America to a fifty-year-long isolation as punishment for his boss’s crimes. But did they really make the right choice?
1. 50 Years

Chattering filled the air — old friends caught up with each other, sharing stories of what happened to them during their "isolation." This was the first World Meeting in fifty years, even though everybody still tried to keep in contact.

Everybody, that is, except for one country.

"This whole thing seems a bit . . . cruel, don't you think?"

"He needed to learn a lesson. He'll be okay, he's been through worse." The personification of England sipped tea from a fancy cup, his face betraying no emotion. The coolness with which he addressed essentially abandoning his son for half a century worried Canada.

"Yes, but he didn't deserve to be all alone."

"There are plenty of humans in his country. I don't think it tore him up too much."

"But humans die. Other nations are really the only company we can have."

"You're overthinking this." Anger burned through him. How could he care so little?

"Well, I'm sorry for being worried about my brother! He could be _dead_ for all we know!"

"Your _brother_ nearly killed us all!"

Suddenly, the noise in the room stopped. All eyes were on England and Canada. As it turns out, they were speaking louder than originally intended.

There was an uncomfortable silence, broken only by a light rapping on the wooden door.

"Do you think that's him?"

"Everyone else is here. Who else could it be?"

Another silence. Nobody really wanted to let him in, out of fear of being the first person in his way when he found out that he was the only one in exile.

"I'll get the door," offered Japan finally.

You could hear a pin drop as the island nation approached the door and twisted the handle.

What answered was not America.

It was a little girl none of them had ever seen before.

She had the same wheat-blond hair and cornflower blue eyes as him, but the similarities ended there. While he was stocky and muscular, she was so slim, Canada thought one could knock her over with a breeze. While his skin was light brown, hers was sickly pale, almost gray. She didn't have glasses and her long hair cascaded over her shoulders. She looked to be only around eight years old.

Nobody dared speak. It was, ironically, the missing nation's softspoken twin that broke the silence — how many uncomfortable silences have there been? Two? Three? It was a World Meeting, after all, and those were almost never quiet, although given the situation, he supposed it fit.

"Where's America?"

The girl smiled, though it contained no hint of the childlike innocence someone her age should have. Canada could've sworn he saw a cruel glint in her eyes.

And then she spoke two words in her soft, cold little voice, two words that shot through him almost like a bullet, two words that confirmed his worst fears.

Two words that changed his world forever.

"He's gone."


	2. Remorse

Blue eyes stared out into the darkness as he lied in bed, sheets pulled up to his chin like he was a child.

He couldn't sleep. How could he?

Only one thought was in his mind, replaying over and over again like a broken record.

His brother was gone.

The girl who took his place was a country, like him. Apparently, America found her and raised her like his own daughter.

And when she got strong enough, she killed him.

Canada had wanted to wage war against her, and so had five other countries — England, France, Japan, Russia, and Lithuania. They wanted to make her suffer for what she did.

Unfortunately, that sentiment was only shared by the six of them.

Others were sad, sure, but the sole reason why they exiled America in the first place was for world peace. By starting a war immediately afterwards, they'd be ruining it.

"Do you _want_ his death to be in vain?" Germany had asked, wincing at his own poor choice of words as soon as he said it. Canada knew that he was never good at handling emotions. He'd lost his own brother not too long before, after decades of not being a country, so he must have known what it felt like.

In any other situation, Canada would have forgiven him.

This was not any other situation.

He didn't remember what happened, only that he had to be pulled back before "doing something he might regret."

And then he was there.

Locked up in some stupid bedroom like a prisoner.

He closed his eyes tight, hoping that maybe if he fell asleep, he'd wake up the next day and it would all be a bad dream.

He almost couldn't believe he voted in favor of his twin's exile.

Of course, everyone did. After that third awful war, everyone wanted to see him punished.

Nobody cared that it was his boss's fault.

Nobody cared that he wasn't the one in control.

Maybe if they hadn't isolated him, they would have been able to stop that girl.

Maybe he would have never found her at all.

A terrible thought came to his mind.

What if she was born _because_ they exiled America?

What if she was born because that was the first part of his downfall?

_The downfall that he helped cause._

Two words that nobody would hear echoed through the room in a choked sob.

"I'm sorry."

**hi! i just wanted to clear a few things up real quick:**

**\- this was not meant to be a continuing story, but if you wanna use the character, feel free!**

**\- the reason why i wasn't Really going anywhere with this is bc it's based on. a tumblr post. it was a screenshot of a writing prompt that was something along the lines of all countries agreeing to go into isolation for 50 years, only for america (the actual country, not the hetalia character) to return and find out that nobody else actually went into isolation. somebody commented that this is the answer as to what happened to all the other countries in most dystopian ya novels, and the girl from this story is kinda meant to be the nightmarish hellscape those kinds of stories are always set in**

**\- basically? i took a Funnie Poast and made it depressing**

**but i'm glad you all liked it! thank you for reading!**


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